I have a 2 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback.  Took him to the vet to have his teeth cleaned and ears cleaned.  So they knocked him out and did the procedures.  When I picked him up they said he had a ear infection in his left ear.  I'm suppose to clean every other day and put this ointment in his ears.  Before I got to do any of this I noticed he was deaf after 24 hours home.  At first I thought it was from being knocked out.  He has been to the animal ER and they were no help.  Did clean his ears again.  Then yesterday back to the reg. vet.  She said it could be the ointment and to not use it.  Doesn't make sense since both ears are dead.

Anyone have this problem before?

Thanks

Gonna go for third opinon now.  Hope this vet knows something the other doesn't.

Certain antibiotics can cause deafness if used in an ear that has a ruptured ear drum.  It is also possible that the infection caused the hearing loss if it went into the middle ear, this can be caused by too vigorous flushing/cleaning, cleaning with q-tips etc.  It's also possible that the ear canals are so swollen.  It's a bit weird that both ears are affected.  Unfortunately to really test hearing you are going to need to see someone with special equipment like a neurologist.  Hopefully it's just secondary to inflammation etc or too vigorous flushing and will return over the next few days.  Another thing is that if you are putting a lot of meds/cleaner in the ear it could be physically obstructed causing hearing loss but not total deafness.  Is the dog hearing anything at all?

He hears whistles and loud claps. That's it. We think it has something to do with entederm ointment. I called the manufacture and they said this happens about 12 times a year. Hopefully temporary possibly permanent.

Oh wow. Sorry to hear that. Hope everything goes ok and his hearing comes back.

Is this Animax?  It happened to our dog - I rushed him in and had him sedated and the ears cleaned, and his hearing came back in a couple of days.  Hurry and get that shit out of there!

This just recently happened to our dog. He went deaf after a day of starting to use the ointment for the ear infection. I forgot the name. There are documented cases on the internet of this occurring. Our dog regained hearing about a week after stopping the use of the ointment. Several cases have been reported as permanent hearing loss.  I hope his hearing loss isn't permanent.  Good luck.

Any update OP?

Same thing happen to my dog as well. It's been several months and she is finally getting some hearing back, but not much. She had already started loosing it before the ointment but just a couple of days afterward she went completely deaf.

After seeing others have the same problem I would advise people to not use the ointment on their dogs.

what ointment is it, OP?  my shih-tzu has had a few infections in his ears due to the climate here, but fortunately none of the antibiotiocs have caused deafness.

Okay Dexter has most of his hearing back.  For some reason he doesn't eat as easily as before.  Almost like his tongue doesn't work for him as well.  He had an allergic reaction to some drug in the ointment.  I will ask the name again as I forget right now.

entederm ointment